media-releases

BUILDER ON BOARD FOR NEW MERNDA AMBULANCE BRANCH

June 5, 2018

Mernda’s first ever ambulance branch is a step closer, with a builder appointed for the project being delivered by the Andrews Labor Government.

Member for Yan Yean Danielle Green today announced that Commercial Industrial Construction Group Pty Ltd will build the state-of-the-art new branch for the community, with $3.2 million allocated for the project.

The flagship facility will have four ambulance bays, training facilities, rest and recline rooms, a fully-fitted kitchen and staff car parking.

The 24-hour ambulance branch will be home to the Mernda crew of 15 paramedics who are already working out of the Diamond Creek branch.

Our hard-working paramedics will soon have the safe, modern facilities they deserve and need to meet increasing demand and ensure patients in Mernda and Doreen get the fastest possible emergency response.

The Labor Government is rebuilding Victoria’s ambulance system after four years of crisis under the Liberals to ensure everyone can get world-class care, sooner, in a medical emergency.

Our $500 million plan is improving ambulance response times, employing 450 more paramedics, buying new vehicles and building more branches. Since coming to office, we have invested $126.9 million in ambulance capital projects.

Thanks to our record investment, we now have the best ambulance response times in nine years. Despite rising demand, paramedics are reaching emergencies within the benchmark 15 minutes, 83 per cent of the time. That’s up from 80 per cent a year prior and 73 per cent from when the Liberals were last in Government.

In the City of Whittlesea, we are seeing significant improvement, with 81.1 per cent of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code One emergencies, up from 77.6 per cent compared with a year prior.

The average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One emergency in Whittlesea over the same period has improved from 12:22 minutes to 11:45 minutes.

Quotes attributable to Member for Yan Yean Danielle Green

“Mernda is growing as more and more families choose to live here. It needs its own ambulance branch to meet soaring demand and we are getting it done.”

“The state-of-the-art new branch will give Mernda’s dedicated paramedics the modern and larger facilities they need to do what they do best, which is saving lives.”

“Under the Liberals, ambulance response times blew out to the worst on the Australian mainland. We’re investing more into our ambulance services than any other Government in Victoria’s history.”